Following your foot steps
by xXAlixXx
Summary: my name is alix, im 17 yrs old. i used to think my life was ok in black and white, being the bottom of the food chain until my parents died when i was 14. i lived alone until Cloud adopted me, i thought my life was perfect with him, well.. i thought wrong
1. Chapter 1

_**(Chapter 1. Alix)**_

I was on the back of Clouds motorcycle, Cloud had his cell phone shoved up to his ear. I could hear the sound of Barret shouting in his message. "Whaddup, fool! It's Barret. I am the man! Oil, Cloud! I just found the biggest damn oil field you've ever seen! Survey's done so. I should be to get out there and see Marlene soon. You let her know, all right, spiky?!" cloud sighed as the message moved to Tifa's voice

"Reno called again. He says to hurry and he sounded kind of strange. Be careful, okay? Cloud… how have u been" I smiled, then lightly tapped Cloud's shoulder

"Hey! When are you gonna tell Tifa about us…"

"You'll have to be a lot more selective on what to tell her, I don't know what you're talking about" cloud said, I could tell that he was smirking just by the tone in his voice.

"You know what I'm talking about!" I shouted as Cloud made the engine roar. He pointed to his ears.

"Can't hear you" he laughed as the motorcycle took off the mini sand Doon cliff we were on. Cloud squeezed on the gas, pushing us to a high speed. I was Clouds apprentice… Alix. I had short, shoulder length black hair, and pale blue eyes that sparkled like stars at night. I was wearing a black tank top, a cameo skirt that was just a little higher above my finger tips, and knee high black combat boots. I clung to Cloud as he drove us to the Healin Lodge. I had my ear pressed against the center of his back and I listened to his slow and steady heart beat. After about ten minutes of driving he slowed to a stop. I was the first to get off, he followed

"They have people waiting for you inside Cloud, they are gonna test you." I said calmly, I smiled at him, and he smiled back. He walked up the steps and as soon as he opened the door, a red haired man ran towards him and i, Cloud stepped aside and I did a back flip over him, when my head was at his I smiled and pushed him down the steps

"Bye bye handsome" I giggled as I landed and Cloud ran in and shut the door behind us. Cloud then grabbed a big black guys arm and flipped him onto his back.

"You should have known I would be too strong for you Hon!" I shouted through the door to the red haired man.

"His name is Reno" Cloud said "and this is rude" Cloud pointed to the black guy. I looked at him and he blushed

"Hiya Rude, I'm Alix" I smiled, reaching out and touching his hand, offering to help him up. He took my hand and kissed it then slowly got up.

"I'm Rude, pleased to meet you… Rufus…" he looked to the door that he had come through and a man in a wheel chair came in slowly.

"Good. You fight like the SOLDIER you once claimed to be. You haven't lost your touch." He was covered by a blanket, or a sheet, so I couldn't see if he was smiling, or showing any emotion at all.

"Rufus Shinra? Do I feel sorry for you." Cloud whispered almost so I could hear it, I walked to Cloud and held his hand.

" The day of the explosion..." Rufus began.

" What do you want from me?" Cloud asked quickly, cutting him off.

" I managed to get out..." He started again. I knew he was content on telling his story

" Who were the guys that followed me?" Cloud yelled. His hand tightened around mine as if he wasn't supposed to say that.

"What! We were being followed!" I yelled in panic, Cloud covered my mouth softly.

" Before it collapsed..." Rufus began his broken story again, though Cloud didn't care.

"We're leaving." Cloud snapped as he pulled me back to the door.

" We need your assistance, Cloud." Rufus begged, pleading for help.

" Not interested." Cloud said reaching for the door knob.

" I acknowledge that Shin-Ra ... owes the planet a lot. It goes without saying that my company and I are the ones that put the world in the sorry state it's in. Therefore, it's our responsibility to set things right." Rufus said quietly, in an emotionless tone.

"I'm still out here!" Reno yelled from outside. He looked through the window and winked at me, trying to get me to open the door.

"As a first step, we have commenced an investigation in Sephiroth's wake." Rufus mumbled quietly.

"Yep! In the Northern Cave!" Reno shouted again. "Come on, I want to talk to the pretty girl!" I giggled at Reno's words.

" What do you think we found? Nothing. Nothing at all. You can relax. However, not all went as planned. We were interrupted by the same three who followed you -- Kadaj and his gang." Rufus continued. When we're we followed. I don't ever remember being followed, I don't remember seeing anyone ether so who followed us… who was Kadaj.

"Kadaj..." Cloud whispered as he dropped my hand, I could tell that he was hurting

" It seems he doesn't want us finishing what we started. Really, what could they be thinking?" Rufus wondered to himself

" What does that have to do with me?" Cloud asked blankly, still thinking about the name.

"You're our buddy, aren't ya? And I'm sure if u can't kill him then the girl can make him fall in love ha-ha!" Reno boomed, it was like he was inside, but still he was just outside the window

"Kadaj and his group are young and violent -- as dangerous as they come. That's why we decided that it might be in our best to hire a little muscle." Rufus explain quickly.

"To bad. I'm only a delivery boy now." Cloud said

"But Cloud…" I whispered sadly, he can't be so cold hearted

"You're all we have. Cloud, look, you're an ex-SOLDIER, aren't you?" now he was messing with Clouds emotions. Cloud grabbed my hand again.

" But I..." Cloud hesitated… like he was in pain. I tightened my grip on his hand

"Come on, Cloud, think about it. Together we could rebuild Shin-Ra!" Reno shouted as loud as he could. Cloud looked a little angry as he pulled me through the door and past Reno

"Not interested." Cloud said one last and final time

" Reno!" Rufus and Rude yelled, he cringed a little. I could tell that Cloud had more of a chance of running into Sephiroth again than he did of helping them after what they had just said. 


	2. Chapter 2

_**(Chapter 2. Moon)**_

"Does Cloud live here?" I asked quietly. I was Tifa's apprentice, moon. I had long black hair like Tifa's, I had green eyes, and I wore a red tank top, blue jean jacket, black short shorts and black knee high converse.

"I guess he does." Tifa answered. Marlene and Denzel were back at the house, waiting for Cloud to come home. We looked around the broken down church. I suddenly found a bandage.

"What's this?" I asked sadly as Tifa walked to me and shook her head "It's just like Denzel! Is Cloud sick?" I asked again… why did Cloud keep running from us.

"Why didn't he say something...?" Tifa whispered in a worried tone, she missed Cloud a lot.

"Did he leave because he's sick? Why didn't he just tell us, we could have helped him…" I said quietly, I missed cloud too, I wonder where he was right now.

"He just ... wants to fight alone." Tifa explained. She reminded me a lot of my friend Dei. I missed Dei, she died with Aeris a while back, and she was only ten. Damn Sephiroth… why did he have to take them away.

"Fight…?" I said curiously, wondering what Tifa was thinking.

"No, I don't think that he will." She explained to herself. I kind of thought she was insane at first.

"Tifa?" I said in a sad voice, knowing that Cloud wouldn't return soon.

"Let's go home, Moon." Tifa laughed a little as she smiled, I wonder what had happened.

"We can't leave yet…! Cloud's not here." I shouted… I really missed him, he never comes home so my only way to see him was to wait in the place he called home.

"I know, hon. I miss him too." She explained softly with a warm smile

"Yeah!" I replied back happily, thinking she would let me stay.

"So, say he comes back?" she said in a tone like it was a question. She was gonna test me, I think.

"Then…I'll go home!" I said. I sounded a little angry and giggly at the same time.

"No. Not until…he gets a lecture." She laughed, I laughed with her. I really enjoyed being around her. She never seemed to be sad.


	3. chapter 3

_**(Chapter 3. Alix)**_

I watched as who I thought was Kadaj, beat Reno and Rude to the ground. Kadaj looked happy, I was watching through the window behind him so he couldn't see me. As Cloud started his motorcycle he was dialing Tifa's number, so he didn't notice me get off, or that there was a guy in the tree's waiting for us to leave. The man in the trees had left to the deck of the Lodge after Cloud started his motorcycle.

"Boy, do I hate liars." Kadaj laughed in a slightly annoyed tone.

"I apologize. This time you get the truth. The object you seek fell from the helicopter while we were running from you. I'm afraid we were careless." Rufus explained willingly. Like the info would safe him.

"Is that right? Don't lie to me." Kadaj laughed a little as he spoke his words. I could hardly see his face, but I could tell he was beautiful. His long silver hair blocked his face and ended at his shoulders.

"I swear it's true." Rufus said calmly. How could he be so calm about this?

"Fine. Then swear on these. I think their names were Tseng and Elena, if I'm not mistaken" Kadaj laughed, as he threw down what looked like blood stained ID cards. Anger grew inside me with every word Kadaj said, and the same happened to Rufus because I could tell he was angry now, even though his face was covered.

"Why did you do this?" Rufus said in an angry tone, like he wanted to jump out of his wheel chair and kill Kadaj.

"We need mother's power. The Reunion is coming… and we need her." Kadaj Explained in an excited tone.

"Reunion..." Rufus whispered to himself.

"My brother's and sister's who share Mother's cells will all assemble, and together we will all take revenge on the planet! We've already sent out the invitations… but, you know, someone has gone and hidden the guest of honor." He said in a shaky voice. I wondered how bad he had anxiety and stress right now, because it seemed like he really needed a shoulder rub.

"Invitations?" Rufus asked, I also wondered what the invitations were to.

"The stigma. But you know all about that, sir. Mother's mimetic legacy lives on in the Life stream and makes it happen. She does so…much for us and we ... we don't even know where to find her. But what can we do? We're just remnants, really remnants of Mother's legacy. Until we find Mother and receive her cells, we can't be whole again! Geostigma and the Legacy aren't enough ... for a true reunion." He seemed to be moved by his own words because as he spoke, he spoke with great pride and sorrow at the same time.

"What do you mean?" Rufus asked quickly as Kadaj Laughed happily again and then ran his fingers through his hair. He turned towards Rufus and smiled then looked straight at me. my eyes widened as he just smile and looked back at Rufus.

"But, sir! Surely you've noticed..." He threw another Quick glance at me as he got on his knees and looked into Rufus's eyes. Kadaj looked through his bangs… he was down on one knee, his finger tips at the ground. Everything about him screamed Sephiroth to me. Kadaj was flashing between himself and Sephiroth to me. That's what I saw. I suddenly remembered my friends. Dei, Aeris, and Zack, they had been lost because of Sephiroth. My vision slowly faded to white and I saw Dei, and I saw cloud. He was far away. He was seeing Zack. Could he see me? Suddenly Dei Giggled. Her Blonde hair was tied into a pony tail. And then I saw Rufus and Kadaj again. Kadaj was still looking at Rufus, but I fell to the ground in pain at that moment. My arm, where my Geostigma was, it was burning.


	4. Chapter 4

_**(Chapter 4. Moon)**_

Tifa and I were picking flowers. Waiting for cloud was so boring. There really wasn't anything to do. Suddenly the front doors Flew open and I quickly got up and ran to them.

"Cloud, Alix!" I shouted, I ran as fast as I could but Tifa grabbed my shoulders and pulled me closer to her as a big man walked in. he had short grey hair with a big black fighting suit on.

"The name's Loz, Wanna play? The man said, so he was Loz, he looked stronger than Cloud. Tifa stepped forward, pushing me back.

"I guess that's a 'no.' " Loz said with a frown. He slowly walked to us and stopped when he walked into flowers and looked down. "Gross." He gagged. "Hey, where's mother?" he asked.

"There's no one here." Tifa said quickly. And pushed me to the side, and I knew this was going to rake out into a fight. I stepped back behind a broken pillar so I was protected and watched Tifa slowly put her gloves on.

"Fine. Play with me." Loz encouraged. As Tifa got into her fighting pose. "Heh. This'll be fun." He laughed then lurched towards Tifa at a speed I could hardly see. He was fast for a big guy. He blocked the him, this thing first quick punches she threw at him but she got a few in. She hit the right side of his face a few times, I could feel the adrenaline fill the air and Tifa went for a swift kick at his face just like her punches. When she hit on his arm charged and he punched her and electrocuted her as she flung backwards, barely able to land and steady onto her feet. She shook the electricity out of her hands and pulled them into tight fists as she pounced forward to Loz and tried to kick his feet out from under him, he just laughed and did a front flip over her, and landed next to me, but I think he had forgotten I was there. To focused on the fight, as was Tifa and I. as soon as he landed with his back to Tifa, he turned and she was already next to him, throwing another strong, quick punch into his jaw, forcing him into the wall of the church on his left, about 40 feet away. The fight was going fast and I couldn't make out who was winning, Loz slid from the wall quickly as Tifa was by his side again. He dodged her punches by moving backwards in a quick motion, but she was to quick, she jumped from the pillar next to the stone wall and launched herself to Loz, her left foot going into his stomach and moving him backwards. He still landed on his feet. He dodged her first upper kick but couldn't dodge it as her leg came down and was hit in the nose. He grunted in pain as soon as Tifa's Leg came back up, flipping both of them into the air doing back flips. Tifa had meant to go into the air, Loz had not. They both landed at the same time and moved quickly at each other, their wrists seemed to be glued together for a quick second, but Loz pushed Tifa away with his electricity. She grunted a little as she stood her ground, but in the few seconds she had took to steady herself, Loz kicked as hard as he could, right in what would have been the chest, if it wasn't for Tifa's hands being there. She slid backwards and quickly looked up and ducked as Loz punched the wall right above Tifa's head. She smacked his hand away and pushed off the wall, pouncing on Loz once again. They flew through the air only a foot above the ground when suddenly Tifa pushed off of Loz, Smacking his whole body, mostly his head, into the wooden planks of the church. I hadn't even noticed but as Tifa flew through the air, Loz was back on his feet and grabbed Tifa's ankle. He swung her towards me and into the church seats, then around, and again into the seats, until finally he let her go and she flew to the wall in the back of the church and landed perfectly like it was the ground. Flower petals danced around her as she sprang forward to Loz, this time dodging his punch and hitting him in the face, throwing Loz up into the air and throwing him to the ground and dragging him into the seats on the church, then under them. Tifa again landed as if nothing had happened.

"Tifa!" I shouted as I heard a weird ringtone, I ran to Tifa. Loz got out of the wooden mess he was in and answered his phone

"She's not here." He said in a very sad tone, like he was going to cry. "I'm not crying!" he grunted quickly.

" No, I got it. Yazoo already has her there. Yeah… I'll meat you there." He shut his phone and looked at Tifa and I. he stood, ready to fight. "All right. Where were we?" he asked calmly. He grabbed a seat from the heap he was in and threw it to us. Tifa blocked it to save me from harm, but as soon as the seat broke, Loz threw Tifa into a pillar and broke it with a shock pulsing through Tifa's body. She hit the ground into the flowers and Loz walked to her. He was about to kill her but I threw Materia at his head. He turned to me and frowned, walking closer to me.

"Cloud...Alix…"I whispered in fear

"Just run!" Tifa shouted, but it was too late, my vision had already gone black.


	5. Chapter 5

_**(Chapter 5. Alix)**_

I walked with Cloud as we entered the church… his home. We walked to the flowers. And Cloud burst into a run, into the flowers and to the side of someone, from my view… I couldn't tell who it was, but when Cloud said the words, I feared the worst had come.

"Tifa! Tifa!" he shouted as he held her in his arms and shook her a little

"You're late." She whispered weakly.

"Who did this?" cloud shouted. I ran to his side and placed my hand on his shoulder.

"He….. He said…." she paused then sat straight up as fast as she could with an alarmed look on her face "Moon!" she shouted then fell back into clouds arms, passing out. Cloud looked around for something. I looked at where he was looking. He was looking for his Materia but it was gone.

"Damn!" he shouted then suddenly looked at his arm and grunted out in pain. His Geostigma was attacking his body again. I stared in horror as I watched him cry out every second. He suddenly fell to the ground and I ran to him… well I tried to, as I ran to him I tripped over one of the loose piece of wood and hit my head… everything went black.

When I woke up, I was being carried. I was in Reno's arms. He was carrying me up the stairs to a bed… but it felt like he didn't want to hold me very close, like he was afraid I would wake up. I slowly opened my eyes and Reno smiled warmly at me and tightened his grip. I suddenly passed out again, waking up hours later to Cloud slipping my head off his chest to get up. This time I didn't open my eyes. If Reno was in the room he would surely laugh and the fact that I had feelings for Cloud. I opened one eye just enough to see that Reno and Rude were both in here, and cloud was looking at Tifa.

"You know…you're pretty heavy." Reno said in a funny voice. Cloud just glanced at him then his eyes dropped to the ground as if he was ashamed of something.

"Weren't there ... some kids living with you?" Rude whispered as if he didn't want to wake me and Tifa.

"'Cause they ain't here." Reno finished Rude's sentence before he could. Cloud didn't say anything… he just stood there looking at the ground. I suddenly wondered were Marlene and Denzel were.

"You don't care?" Rude said quietly, like he was a little mad.

"I just..." Cloud stuttered a little as he glanced back at Tifa, and then stopped talking all together. Not bothering to finish his sentence. Reno sighed a little.

"You're a real handful." Reno said as he and Rude walked out of the room and slammed the door shut.


	6. Chapter 6

_**(Chapter 6. Moon)**_

When I woke up, we were at the Forgotten Capital. I was behind Loz and his other two brothers. Marlene was next to Kadaj, the leader of the group. The kids of our home… the orphans… every kid who had Geostigma was in front of a lake, Kadaj was standing in front of them on the other side of the lake, next to me.

"Loz, Yazoo, look at what brother was hiding. Powers forged in the

Lifestream. With this Materia, those powers will be ours." Kadaj said with a smile on his face, he lifted the box of Clouds Materia up in the air. Suddenly Loz kicked me in the stomach, I heard Marlene Gasp, then once again, I fell unconscious.


	7. Chapter 7

_**(Chapter 7. Alix)**_

I was laying on the bed that Cloud was on, Tifa moved a little and I noticed that Cloud was at the window, looking out of Healin Lodge and at the sky.

"Reno and Rude are out looking." Cloud said in an emotionless tone. Tifa sat up and looked at him.

"You have Geostigma, don't you? You're going to give up and die, is that it?" Tifa said sadly, I shuffled into the blankets, trying to push her words out of my head. I knew Cloud had Geostigma, I just hated that fact, he would always help me hide mine, he always help me try to was it off my arm or cover it with make up so the ribbon around my arm would cover it, my ribbon was thicker than most of the others. It was to hide my Geostigma, I never wanted to hide it but Cloud asked me to. Cloud was silent for a while. He never answered Tifa's question.

"So it is." Tifa whispered. She looked at me and saw my eyes where open, she just smiled and looked back at Cloud.

"There's no cure." Cloud sighed and looked at the ground, then back out the window.

"Yeah, but, that's not stopping Denzel, is it? Don't run! Let's fight it together! We can help each other, I know we can." Tifa shouted as quietly as she could, it hurt her that Cloud kept running from his fears, it's all he knew. Cloud once again didn't respond.

"I guess... that only works for real families." She whispered as she looked down.

"Tifa ... I'm not fit to help anyone - not my family, not my friends. Nobody." Cloud said in a loud tone, and in that moment I wanted to break down and cry, he blamed himself for Dei and Aeris's death, he thought he was the reason they died.

"Dilly dally, shilly shally." Tifa whispered, then looked at Cloud, then at me. Cloud seemed to notice I was awake when I moved again. He looked up from the ground.

"Dilly dally, shilly shally!" Tifa said again, this time I said it with her. Reno then slipped through a small crack in the door and I looked at him. Tifa gasped and talked as soon as she caught her breath

"I think she wants you to move on, man." Reno said as he glanced at me and Tifa.

"Did you find them?" Tifa shouted, standing up when she spoke

"No, only a witness. Kadaj's gang took the kids." Reno explained with a sigh. Just then I noticed that Rude was next to him.

"They're at their base now - the Forgotten City." Rude said quickly as he looked at Cloud. The next thing I knew I was on the back of Cloud's motorcycle and we were ridding through the Forgotten City to where the kids were, I could hear talking but I couldn't make out the words, I expected it to be Kadaj because as soon as Cloud heard the talking he drove faster.


	8. Chapter 8

_**(Chapter 8. Moon)**_

All the children listened to Kadaj, this time when I awoke I kept my eyes shut so they didn't know I was awake, I just listened to his words like he was my god.

"Mother has given me a very special gift. The power to fight... against a Planet that torments humanity. She gave this gift to all her children. That's right - you and I are brethren. Brothers and sisters… chosen when we inherited Mother's mimetic legacy through the Lifestream! But, the Planet doesn't approve of that at all. It is doing everything it can to hold us back. That's why it's racking our bodies with pain and filling our hearts with doubt!" Kadaj said as if it was an inspirational speech, but the kids were only… kids, they don't know what to believe. They seemed to be shocked when I opened my eyes a little, but I could tell they believed he could help them… cure them somehow.

"Now I shall heal you. And we will go to Mother together! We will join as a family and strike back against the Planet!" Kadaj Shouted to the kids. "Does as I do." Kadaj said, he slowly walked into the water. He cupped his hands and drank water from them. The kids did the same, walked into the water, cupped their hands and drank.

"Denzel! Denzel!" Marlene whispered in panic. I wished I could tell her everything would be okay but with Loz standing in front of me ready to shock me if I so much as started breathing at a different pace, there was no way to get to her.


	9. Chapter 9

_**(Chapter 9. Alix)**_

We had gone from driving through the forgotten City, to standing arm to arm next to each other, and back to back with Aeris and Dei.

"You came! Even though you're about to break. That's a good sign." Aeris said as she turned, facing Clouds back. She put her hand on his shoulder. "So, why did you come?" Aeris asked

"I think ... I want to be forgiven, more than anything." Cloud said in a sad tone, it was then that I wanted to protect him, shield him from any pain he would have to feel in the future. I was about to speak to Dei, but I was pulled out of the dream by being thrown off the motorcycle and face first into the hard ground. I didn't care that I was in pain. I forced myself up to look at Cloud.

"I'm glad you could make it!" Kadaj yelled so everyone could hear.

"I only came for the kids." Cloud explained quickly.

"See this man? He's our big brother, but alas, in our happy flock he's what you call a "black sheep." Kadaj said pointing his sword at cloud, about to stab through his heart. All Moon, Marlene and I could do was try to help, so we did.

"Cloud!" we all shouted. Kadaj turned to us and Cloud grabbed his sword, attacking Kadaj. Loz and Yazoo hurled into the fight. It was three against one, the battle was nothing you would call fair. Moon and I locked hands and used all our strength to go into battle, I took Yazoo, the skinny, boney guy and Moon took Loz, the big guy with the shorter hair and waaaay more muscle. Suddenly Loz took off to Marlene and Moon was down on the ground, to exhausted to get up quick enough to get Marlene before Loz did. I kicked Yazoo away and tackled Loz into the ground

"Moon! Get Marlene, go under where Cloud is fighting, it's the only place small enough to hide!" I shouted as Moon ran with Marlene to an under covered cave below Cloud's fight with Kadaj. Loz pushed my off, high into the air and Yazoo hit me in the center of my back, causing me to fly into the ground. This Caused Cloud to panic. He was losing a fight that we had to win. Suddenly we were covered in a red cloth and a couple minutes later we were at a lake, this confused me, it felt like I had only blinked and we were at a lake in the forgotten city.

"See? I knew I'd be no help." Cloud mumbled. I growled and elbowed him in the ribs, he chuckled when he looked at me and rubbed his arm, looking at Vincent, the one who had saved us, he wore a red cape that covered his chest, he had a black shirt and black pants, his hair was also black. "Vincent, what do you know about this?" Cloud asked.

"I come here often. I've seen what Kadaj's crew is doing." Vincent explained. He appeared next to cloud in the blink of and eye and grabbed his arm. "The stigma. It's a symptom of alien matter infesting the body; the body tries to eliminate it and overcompensates. Inside our bodies is a current, like the Lifestream, that current is what fights off any malevolent intruders."

"What do you mean by "intruder"?" Cloud glanced at me with a worried look.

"The Sephiroth Gene. Jenova's memetic legacy. Call it what you want." Vincent muttered.

"You're well informed." Cloud said smiling at me, I blushed and he just smiled more, then his smile faded and he looked back at Vincent.

"Tseng and Elena - they were brought here half-dead. They must have been brutally tortured. I did what I could to save them, but well, you'll see." Vincent shuttered a little.

"Tortured?" Cloud said curiously

"They had it coming. They got their hands on Jenova's Head." Vincent sighed and looked at me

"Then when Kadaj says he's looking for Mother..." Cloud started.

"Heavens dark harbinger. The calamity - Jenova. If they wanted to they could recreate Sephiroth." When Vincent said Sephiroth, chills went down my spine, I looked at Moon and she was pale white. We both had terrible memories of that man. What he had done to our friends Aeris and Dei. Moon was growling, I could tell the mention of Sephiroth did not please her.

"Kadaj ... what is he?" Cloud asked, looking at the cold ground.

"Hm. I would rather not know." Vincent mumbled

Suddenly we heard the bushes rustle. Cloud grabbed his sword and shot up into a fighting position, instinctively I got up into a fighting position too. Moon stayed calm like she knew who it was, so did Vincent. Suddenly Marlene ran out from the bushes and into Moon's arms.

"Marlene!" Cloud shouted in a surprised tone. I watched Marlene go to Moon and hug her tightly.

"Moon! Denzel and Tifa!" Marlene shouted, she seemed scared.

"Tifa is all right." Cloud said quietly.

"I wanna talk to her!" Marlene shouted as Cloud reached in his pocket for his phone and looked confused when he didn't have his phone. Marlene looked at Vincent and smiled

"May I?"Marlene said holding her hand out, expecting him to drop a phone into her hands. Vincent opened his cape to show he didn't have a phone and Marlene gasped. "You don't have a phone?" she said in a shocked tone as I laughed.

"Vincent, will you bring Marlene to Tifa? I'm going to go see

Shinra and get a few answers." Cloud said to Vincent as he looked at Marlene.

"You mean 'we' Cloud" I said in a defensive tone. There was no way he was leaving me with Moon and Vincent.

"I can't do that." Vincent growled

"But I..." Cloud said before he was cut off by Marlene.

"Forget it, Cloud! Why don't you ever pay any attention to us?" Marlene yelled, then ran to Vincent and went under his cape to hide.

"Marlene, please, give me some time. There's a battle to be fought, but it's not as simple as just fighting. Understand?" Cloud explained, looking at Marlene through the cape.

"No, I don't!" Marlene shouted from under Vincent's arm.

"Cloud, are you sure this is about fighting?" Vincent asked with a smirk on his face, though I knew he was serious. At that moment I sunk out of the world, remembering what had happened in the lodge before we had left.

"Where are they?" Cloud asked Reno in an emotionless tone.

"They're at their base now - the Forgotten City.

"Go." Cloud said, getting up from the bed we had been laying on. "I have to talk to Rufus." He mumbled.

"Stop running! I know, even if you find the kids you might not be able to help them. Maybe something will happen that can never unhappen that scares you, doesn't it? But you need to think about now, really take it in! Look at you; you think you got it so damn hard!" Tifa shouted out of anger. I started to giggle when I saw Reno and Rude silently fighting on whether they should stay or leave. "Well you hate being alone so let people in! Sure, you don't answer the phone, but I don't see you throwing it away either!" Tifa shouted at Cloud again.

"You go. The base is all yours." Reno said as he left the room with Rude.

"Which is it, our memory or us?" Tifa asked quietly. Suddenly we were in the white room again, Cloud was back to back with Aeris and Dei, but me and Cloud were hugging.

"I let you two die." Cloud whispered in a sad voice. Aeris sighed and Dei giggled.

"u know that's not true" Dei said in her tiny voice.

"Dilly dally, shilly shally. Isn't it time you did the forgiving?" Aeris said, I was pulled out of my flash back by the sound of Cloud's voice.

"Are sins ever forgiven?" Cloud asked Vincent.

"I've never tried." Vincent said with a sigh.

"You mean ... never tried." Cloud said as he thought about what Vincent had just said.

"Alix, let's go." Cloud said as he looked over at me. I nodded and smile at Cloud as we walked away. I slowly grabbed Clouds hand as he looked at Vincent and I looked at Moon, I heard Moon gasp when she saw me and Cloud holding hands.

"Well I'm going to try. I'll phone in the verdict." Cloud said to Vincent as we started walking off again. As we walked we heard I heard to familiar voices, Cloud looked like he heard them too.

"I never blamed you, not once. You came for us, that's all that matters." Aeris said.

"that's right cloud!" Dei said with a giggle.


End file.
